Video rear view mirrors

If you saw the December 1998 issue of Cycle World, you saw the article on the new Ducati concept bike. A radical design, which incorporates something I was thinking about when mulling over my dissatisfaction with the K12's stock mirrors.

I decided to run an experiment using my home 8mm camcorder and a friend's TFT LCD television. I built a simple wood bracket in order to securely hold the camcorder in place, attaching it with a few linked plastic ties. Under the little TV I put a thick foam pad and tied the arrangement to the left grips, again with linked plastic ties.

The two electronic gizmos were linked by a phono-to-stereo plug and ran on batteries. I went out on an overcast day and made the following discoveries:

1. Even though the screen is TFT, it was hard to fight the ambient brightness. Since this was an overcast day, it was obvious that on a bright day I would not have been able to see the picture.
2. The 1.8" (diag.) TFT screen is much too small. A 3" is probably what would be required - nestled on top of the speedo/tach and under the windscreen.
3. Biggest problem of all. The image on the screen is backwards! Think of it; it's the same as if you were sitting on the pillion facing the rear. The right side of the road is on your left! Anyway, in this current configuration, things are confusing and NOT USEFUL.

Conclusions: abandon for now. A 4" screen and micro-cam would cost a total of about $300, which would be worth the thrill of creation, but resolving the backward image is another matter. Probably not an impossible task for the electronician, but not your run-of-the-mill request. To be continued.... home